On an overcast morning at Darrel and Diane Mosel’s farm in Gaylord, Minnesota, in Sibley County, the first signs of spring were just beginning to emerge. Little buds had appeared on the trees, and the grass was starting to green up after the long winter. Beside the family’s classic red dairy barn, birdsong rang out from the trees above the home, loud and joyful.

Mike, Darrel and Diane’s son and the next generation poised to take over the dairy, waved as he headed down the driveway to pick up his daughter. A few moments later, Darrel came out of the house and prepared to bring the cows into the barn for their afternoon milking.

Darrel and Diane have owned and operated their dairy for over 45 years. For them, dairy farming has always been both a tradition and a calling.

Darrel grew up on a farm that included animal agriculture, and Diane grew up on a dairy farm. Darrel remembers going off to college and spending a little time away from the farm, but he was eager to come back and have a dairy farm of his own.

“I was so, so anxious to get back to a farm myself,” Darrel reminisces. “It just seemed like a natural fit for us.”

When Darrel and Diane met and decided to start a life together, they knew they wanted to farm. They began looking for land where they could run a dairy farm of their own, and that search brought them to Gaylord, in south-central Minnesota.

As a small diversified dairy, the Mosels have 45 dairy cows plus young stock. They also raise alfalfa, corn, soybeans and other small grains, as well as tend to their pastures. Their work is rooted in a strong set of values around protecting Minnesota’s water and lakes.

The Mosels have been especially proud of the way a small diversified dairy allows land to be used for animal agriculture, pasture management, and a variety of crops. That diversification can help protect Minnesota’s waterways and reduce runoff and erosion that contribute to lake degradation.

But over the last 45 years, Darrel and Diane, along with the town of Gaylord, have experienced a change that is happening across Minnesota and across the country.

In an area where there used to be nearly 200 small dairy farms, small dairies have been disappearing at an alarming rate.

“Of course today there’s maybe less than ten,” says Darrel.

They were drawn to the area because of its many diversified small family farms, as well as the thriving town of Gaylord.

“Every single farm had 40, 50 or 60 dairy cows or they had other types of animals,” Darrel says.

The presence of many small dairies on the land had a profound economic impact on the town.

“When Diane and I moved here, Gaylord had probably close to 50 different businesses that were servicing small dairy farms,” he explains. “Most of us would buy our farm machinery in a nearby store if we could. You’d also buy our clothes, our cars, our seeds, our supplies for repairing things. And we also would be encouraging folks to use our community schools or hospitals.”

Like many others in the area, Darrel and Diane enjoyed raising their two boys near Gaylord and taking part in the day-to-day work of running their small dairy. Diane also worked off-farm as a social worker.

This is part of a highly concerning trend across Minnesota. According to Land Stewardship Project, nearly 75% of Minnesota’s small dairies have disappeared over the last two decades.

But the loss of small dairies on the land is only part of the picture.

According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, from 1997 to 2017, the number of U.S. dairy farms decreased by half, while the number of cows per farm more than doubled, and the amount of milk produced increased by 30%.

This points to a larger pattern: consolidation.

Consolidation means fewer dairies on the land. Larger farms. Less competition. More corporate control. And the loss of wealth, vitality, and resilience in rural communities.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is one of the people paying close attention to dairy consolidation and the impact it is having on small dairies.

“When you hear about giant producers who are going to increase production, drive prices even further down, what it really means is that we're running small dairy producers out of business, which is not a good thing at all,” Ellison says.

“So I am concerned. It means that the rural economy literally thins out and gets weaker and makes it harder for everyone.”

In April 2026, Attorney General Ellison visited Darrel and Diane Mosel’s farm along with a handful of other dairy farmers, where they sat down together for a conversation about what small dairies are facing.

“The real truth is what I've heard from them and many other dairy farmers, which is that it's getting harder and harder and harder,” Ellison explains.

“Every price they pay is much higher. Every electric bill’s higher, land price higher, taxes higher. Everything's higher. How are they supposed to survive when all the prices are higher, but all the revenue is the same as it used to be? It's just unsustainable.”

No one puts it better than Darrel.

“Consolidation of that level really distorts the marketplace in the sense that it puts a supply of milk that really is unnecessary, probably,” Darrel says.

“Consolidation of this nature would certainly give very few people a lot of power to control the price of milk, for one thing. But how we treat animals, how we treat people that work for you, the quality of our milk, it's got to suffer. At some point we have to know there's a limit.”

Having many small, diversified dairies on the land actually makes for a stronger food system. As Attorney General Ellison remarks:

“If we had a more diverse system with many producers and many folks who are in the business of supplying food, including dairy and milk for us, then we'd have a more robust and resilient system so that if there's a problem in one place, it doesn't mean there's a problem every place.”

Even as Darrel and Diane remain concerned and clear-eyed about what is happening in the dairy industry, they also hold some optimism for the future as their son Mike begins taking over the reins of the dairy.

Mike recently quit his job in order to work full-time on the farm. His work includes building repairs, working with machinery, and helping carry the dairy into its next chapter. He is eager and looking forward to taking over the dairy as Darrel, now in his 70s, is “ready to slow down a little bit.”

“As a small-scale dairy, as someone who owns and operates, I have to say, I don't think I could have had a better life,” Darrel says with a smile. “Diane and I wake up every day. We're, like, as happy as we can be.”

“My son Mike and I talk about, you know, how are we going to make this work?”

As Darrel thinks about the future, he also thinks about what could help small dairies and make a difference for the next generation of farmers. This is a hat he has worn before: Darrel served in the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1993 and 1994, representing District 38B.

“I would think we would be able to have a policy that would address consolidation and make that possible for my son and for all the other young people that want to farm. I don't think they agree with the way we're going with consolidation,” says Darrel.

“I think they throw their hands up a lot and feel like there's nothing they can do about it. I think we could, if we would just get together and agree on some policies that would work.”